From Britain with Love

I became interested in photography while driving across America in my early twenties and it was while watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon that I started thinking about learning photography. 

The idea for the business came to me when my best friend let me know that he'd just become a father. I decided do something very special, so I drove into the countryside and photographed a beautiful tree in the rolling fields, personalising the photograph with 'Teddy’s first day'. There were tears of joy and soon other friends asked me to do the same.

Later we moved to Cornwall and after the birth of my first daughter I decided to start the business. Since June 21st 2005 we've been taking photographs at sunrise to show what the world looked like on the day a child is born, or to celebrate a wedding day or other significant event. Watch our short video at the bottom of this page to see us in action!

Our photography is the result of our location in West Cornwall. The majority of our pictures are taken over St Ives Bay which has beautiful scenery. The light is so special here, I could write about it forever. We have a about 40 locations that we go to depending on the time of year, tide, weather conditions, and even wind direction. Our studio is in Hayle, just outside St Ives, in an old foundry which was re-developed in 2007 and has been our home ever since.

At The Day That we've taken the traditional art form of landscape photography and found a new and exciting market. All our photographs are digital but we use traditional in-camera techniques to create our work. For example, if the conditions are wind and rain then we'll capture the movement of the sea or the clouds by using a long exposure; if it's sunny then we let nature crate the beauty.

We use very minimal Photoshop as we want the pictures look as close as possible to what we witnessed on that particular morning. Because we want our photographs to last a lifetime we use specialist archival paper and the best ink available.

We are in two main markets... the Birth market where people buy our photoghraphs to celebrate the birth of a baby, and the Wedding market which is proving to be very popular. Couples often put our photographs on their wedding gift list as a lasting reminder of the start of their first day as man and wife. We also offer gift vouchers so that guests can give the couple something on the day. These are very special as we hand-make them and personalise them with a photograph that means something to the couple, such as the day they met or got engaged.

I suppose the best part of what we do is the actual taking of the photographs, which can be a real challenge. It can be the fact that in the summer we have to be on location by 4am or that we will be standing in the middle of a beach in a force 8 gale with the wind and rain driving at us and still have to create something beautiful…. and believe me there is always something beautiful to be found.

It’s quite obvious that we have no choice but to produce what we do here in Britain, as it's such an important part of what we create. But even if we did have a choice, I still believe in working with local suppliers as much as possible.

Gosh, this is a difficult question as we've had so many proud moments over the years. But if I were to choose any it would be these two... firstly, the birth of my eldest daughter Ella which inspired me to launch the business in the first place. The second was when I heard that Chris, our other photographer, came into the studio with a series of pictures he had taken of his 5 year old daughter helping him on the beach at 7am. We try and be very family orientated here, so that was a beautiful moment. 

All our sales are via our website www.thedaythat.co.uk. We market this via a number of channels including SEO, Social media and traditional advertising. We attend a number of national and regional exhibitions including the National Baby Shows at Earls Court and the NEC. In March we will be launching an unbranded sub site that will allow us to work with any online company such as Harrods and John Lewis, which is very exciting.

I am inspired by many designers and artists but the man who inspired me the most was Photographer John Claridge. I saw a photograph he had taken of the great Chet Baker and that one image made me want to take pictures. I wrote a blog about it which he read, and he was so pleased that his work had influenced me so much that he sent me a signed copy of the photograph which I hang with pride in my living room.

I do buy British as much as possible and even try to only buy fruit and veg that are in season. We're very lucky here in St Ives as we have a number very good farmer's markets. We have a fantastic local farm called Trevaskis Farm that has a great meat and fish counter; they grow their own fruit and veg, and supply locally made bread. I also like taking the girls there as they have a huge pick-your-own area and animals, with the pigs being a firm favourite.

I remember sitting on our local beach on a hot spring day, talking to friends about where they were going on holiday and thinking to myself, why would anyone want to leave this place. Saying that, I am thinking of going to Wales this year just for a change of scenery.

When not working I like spending time with friends and family. There's nothing better than coming home, lighting the BBQ, opening a bottle of beer and sharing good food and laughter. I play tennis for a club and I dream of one day having a room in my house dedicated to watching film.